AN EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT OF FISHES. 1 345 



plementary" displays might be illustrated the difference between the sluggish 

 bottom-frequenting species, the active pelagic forms, and the highly modified 

 species from the abyssal regions of the sea. Here it would be necessary to call 

 in the aid of the artist to illustrate the adaptations to environment and show 

 how the colors of some fishes blend in with the rocks and waving sea weeds. 



Among the special series, or series illustrating modification for offense and 

 defense, for capturing food, or escaping devourers, come phosphorescent and 

 electrical fishes. Another of these special series might well be an exhibit of 

 game fishes, and this should be mounted as artistically as possible, with specially 

 designed backgrounds and surroundings. Such an exhibit could be made very 

 attractive without being in the least garish. These various series should be 

 kept by themselves. The object of the systematic part of the exhibit is to 

 display as plainly as possible the orders and higher groups of the class of fishes, 

 and these distinctions should be made as clear as possible for the sake of the 

 general visitor, for whose benefit the exhibition part of a museum is provided. 

 The number of specimens, also, should be carefully kept down in order not 

 to tire the visitor and confuse him with a multiplicity of forms; but there 

 should be no hesitancy in using several specimens of the same fish if needed to 

 illustrate more than one fact." It may even be questioned if such repetition 

 may not be advisable in order to drive home and clinch the fact that a common 

 species is none the less a typical one and that mere rarity does not in itself mean 

 anything. 



The questions of whose classification to adopt and how it may best be 

 illustrated are not easy to answer, because no two systematists are agreed as to 

 the relative importance and exact position of certain groups. In the outline 

 here presented the classification employed by Doctor Jordan in his Guide to 

 the Study of Fishes has been followed, partly as a matter of convenience and 

 partly on account of the amount of information contained in the book. Practi- 

 cal difficulties in the way of displaying any group of animals are met with in the 

 Umitations and disposition of space available for such exhibits. In many ways 

 it seems best to indicate the divisions adopted and arrangement followed on a 

 large label, number the orders, and repeat these numbers on the labels. 



One of the physical difficulties encountered in arranging exhibits is that 

 animals of very different sizes may be zoologically related,'' rendering it difficult 

 to place the specimens at once in their proper order and to permit the smaller 

 specimens to be seen. To preserve a balance by exhibiting small examples of 

 such species as reach a large size is to give a wrong impression to the beholder, 



« Burt Wilder notes this in his " Educational Museums of Vertebrates," showing how the same 

 species may be used for several purposes. 



t> Such an instance among mammals is the relationship of rhinoceros, hyrax, and elephant. 



